Forum Discussion

MisterM's avatar
MisterM
Tuning in
6 hours ago

Do I need a VM Engineer to attend?

I was with Virgin Media up until around 18 months ago when I switched to Sky. I am now looking to return back to Virgin Media. I have a Sky Glass TV and I will likely be choosing to have Virgin Media’s M350 Entertainment + Netflix package.

I still have Virgin Media’s brown box fitted to the front of my house outside from when I was with them previously and the cabling from that brown box which comes into my house, is currently laying dormant under the timber floor in my Front Lounge. Before storing that cabling under my Front Lounge floor, I took the photo below which shows what cabling I currently have coming in. The black cable is the one that runs into my house from the brown box outside. This then connects into the silver coloured 2 way splitter and the two white cables then exit that splitter.

My question is, once Virgin Media deliver their new equipment to me, based on what cabling I already have, do I need to pay for one of their Engineer’s to attend to connect, install and set-up that new equipment or should I be able to connect the existing cables myself, directly to Virgin Media's new equipment?

I definitely haven’t got an existing wall socket in my Front Lounge and I cannot remember if I had one previously. I don’t think I did. I think the ends of the two cables that are shown in the photo just connected straight into the hub that I had then but I cannot remember 100%. Do I actually need a wall scoket fitting or is the cabling that I already have, suitable without having a wall socket?

I look forward in anticipation of any responses received.

7 Replies

  • Adduxi's avatar
    Adduxi
    Very Insightful Person
    6 hours ago

    There are a few joins in that cable and an attenuator fitted.  I would suggest a tech visit to tidy up the cable and check the power levels. You don’t need a socket btw.  The TV box now supplied by VM is the streaming only box and this doesn’t need a co-ax connection, just WiFi or Ethernet cables.

  • MisterM's avatar
    MisterM
    Tuning in
    5 hours ago

    Thanks for your reply.

    So I definitely couldn’t just disconnect the black cable from everything else and then connect that black cable (which comes from the brown box outside), straight into my new hub then? 

    • Adduxi's avatar
      Adduxi
      Very Insightful Person
      5 hours ago

      No, you could unscrew it from the splitter and connect that to the Hub.  Doing it that way will include the isolator and attenuator. 

  • MisterM's avatar
    MisterM
    Tuning in
    3 hours ago

    If you zoom in on my photo, the silver coloured rectangular component with the blue text on it has ‘2 way splitter’ noted on it so I am referring to that component when I say the splitter. I don’t know what an isolator or attenuator are and I cannot see anything else that might be either of those components in my photo?

    Just to clarify, are we saying that I can unscrew the black cable where it currently joins the short length of white cable, remove that short length of white cable including the splitter and the two longer white cables with the connectors on the end from the whole installation and then just screw the black cable into my new hub? Or are we saying that I should not do that?  

  • Adduxi's avatar
    Adduxi
    Very Insightful Person
    3 hours ago

    Okay, I'll try to describe this a bit better?  From what I can see in the photo, the black cable is screwed into an isolator (the top of the short white cable) , then at the three way splitter it looks like an attenuator?  Anyway, yes use the black cable + short white cable and just remove the three way splitter and the other two cables.

     

  • MisterM's avatar
    MisterM
    Tuning in
    2 hours ago

    Aah ok. That’s a lot clearer and understood, so many thanks for your further explanation.

    I didn’t appreciate that there even was a component in between the end of the black cable and the start of the shorter white cable and, as all of my cabling is currently hidden-away under my Front Lounge floor, I cannot easily check this until I peel back my carpet, take the floor boards up and pull my cabling up. Until I do that, I am just going off the photos that I took previously but, when I try to zoom in on those photos, the text on that component just goes blurry.

    Anyway, you have answered my question about whether I need a VM Engineer to attend which I don’t, so thanks very much for that.    

  • Roger_Gooner's avatar
    Roger_Gooner
    Alessandro Volta
    2 hours ago

    A splitter should not have an unconnected port and should be terminated with a 75‑ohm F‑type terminator cap. Even better get a tech to fit a wall socket and connect the external black cable directly to a white internal one (so no splitter). You connect your hub to the cable and the Stream box to the hub. Tell VM you haven't got a socket and the tech visit will be treated as mandatory manned installation and thus free.